How to Clean a Diamond Ring

Diamond rings pick up quite some dirt and grime over the weeks and months they are on your finger and cleaning your diamond in order to bring it back to its original sparkling self is not as easy as it might seem as certain precautions must be taken before proceeding.

There are several cleaning methods of which the first, whether done at home or professionally is in using an electric high frequency vibrating machine where the diamond ring is placed in a recipient containing a special cleaning fluid and it is literally ‘shaken’ clean by the vibrations within the solution created by the machine.

We do not recommend this method as it can cause the diamond, especially if it is set in gold or silver and is of a certain size, to wiggle itself loose within the setting due to the vibrations.

This will allow a loose claw to get caught on any material. Pull apart, perhaps slowly, with as a result that the diamond will be prone to fall out especially if it is set between 4 claws.

So under no circumstances should you allow anyone to use such a method to clean your diamond ring even if it is offered to you free of charge unless of course you accept the risk factor.

The best method is what we call the ‘soap sud’ method.

You pour a small amount of boiling water in a small recipient in which a drop or two of liquid detergent has been added. Then taking an old tooth brush, dipped into the solution, you begin to brush the ring seeing to it that the bristles of the brush are penetrating the small openings around the diamond. This you do several times until you are satisfied that the bristles have penetrated all of the orifices around and within the mount and on the diamond itself.

Making sure, of course, that the sink has been blocked so that there is no risk of your ring falling into the water evacuation hole, rinse your diamond ring under the hot tap in order to remove whatever soap suds that may remain and then dry your ring using a clean kitchen towel or tissue.

Having done this there is one more important step to take and that involves methylated spirits.

Place the ring in a small recipient containing some methylated spirits for 15 seconds, then wiggle it a bit within the solution in order to create movement. The diamond ring is then dried using the kitchen towel or tissue again.

The methylated spirit will revive the brilliance of the metal and it will again shine and it will remove any ‘haze’ effect left by the liquid detergent, giving the diamond that extra sparkle it deserves.

This is the only method we at the Jewellery Web Shop actually recommend as no damage can be done to the diamond and its mount.

Under no circumstances must any hard objects be used to pry into the orifices of the ring nor anything harder than the bristles of a toothbrush as otherwise there is a risk of further scratching to the metal of the ring.